(indieWIRE/05.15.00) — Cowboy Booking International and Antidote Films announced the formation of a new U.S. distribution company late Sunday called Code Red — they also unveiled the outfit’s first two acquisitions:David Gordon Green‘s acclaimed Amer-indie “George Washington,” andAustralian director James Bogle‘s “In the Winter Dark.” The company plans to acquire and support up to ten films a year that will be distributedtheatrically by Cowboy, the outfit responsible for the releases of ZiadDoueri’s “West Beirut,” Aviva Kempner‘s “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg,” and the upcoming “Benjamin Smoke” from Jem Cohen and Pete Sillen. A fund of $1 million has been raised by Antidote, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte‘s company (producer of “High Art“), to cover acquisition and distribution costs.

“Code Red will be an effective tool for connecting some of the best ofworldwide cinema to its audience,” commented Cowboy Co-President John Vanco.Along with Vanco and Levy-Hinte, the ubiquitous Cowboy Co-President andToronto Film Festival programmer Noah Cowan — who can be seen around Cannes championing the films that others are afraid to — will complete thecompany’s top triangle. At Saturday’s “Girlfight” party, we asked Cowan whathe thought of the nearly 3-hour black and white Chinese opus, “Devils on theDoorstep,” that screened the previous day. After gushing about its closingshot, indieWIRE asked him whether he thought it would see the light of dayin the U.S. Though admitting that the film would likely lose money, heproudly declared that he